| AdminHistory | Andrew Leslie was born in 1818 in the Shetland Islands and from the age of 14 served as an apprentice boilermaker in Aberdeen at the ironworks of John Vernon and Co. He was quickly promoted to foreman and in his evenings after work he was instructed in technical drawing by Charles Mitchell who also later established a shipyard on the Tyne.
Andrew Leslie came south to the Tyne with a capital of £200 and in 1853 he rented part of the Woodhouse Farm at Hebburn for his shipbuilding venture laying a single berth.Early in 1854 he launched his first vessel the Clarendon of 1,000 ton grossweight.
Many of his fellow countrymen followed him south in search of work and Hebburn came to be known as " Little Aberdeen ". Leslie quickly realised the need to provide housing for his workers and built several hundred houses. He also played a large part in the social life of Hebburn making major financial contributions to building local churches and the workmen's Institute as well as supporting the local school.
In 1860 R and W Hawthorn supplied their first set of machinery to Andrew Leslie for the Iberia and in this decade supplied in all 31 sets of machinery to the Hebburn yard. By 1885 Andrew Leslie had built 265 ships.
Andrew Leslie retired in 1885 and it was in that year that his company amalgamated with R and W Hawthorn to form R and W Hawthorn, Leslie and Co, Ltd. This Company was registered as a public company on 1st July 1886.
He died in January 1894 and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Leith. |